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Letters to the editor Sunday

It’s strange and confusing that when the economy changes, some laws, rules and regulations do not. I am referring to child support laws.

In a nutshell, imagine you are a parent paying child support, lose your 1994, $21-per-hour employment due to lack of work and now, in 2011, have a $10-per-hour job.

Obligations do not change, but payments are still at the 1994 level?

Oh, by the way, I received unemployment for awhile, and payments were still taken out and lost my home.

You ask for modification — more paperwork, more waiting, but still you struggle to pay? You go to your local Child Support Enforcement Office, where there are young ladies filing their nails, looking up at you with a nonchalant glance as you try to explain, and they tell you to pay; it’s not their problem.

You feel useless, downtrodden, close to mental exhaustion. They tell you that you are in arrears and in a couple of days your license will be suspended.

You cannot drive to work, local bus transportation in your area is a no, and cab fares are ridiculous. Revamp the child support laws; my children will still have a roof over their heads and food with the custodial parent.

We are not “deadbeat” parents, but trying to do the best we can financially with less. Child support and my children mean much more than finances.

It’s love, emotion, nurturing and most of all, spiritual.

BARBARA PERRY

Savannah

Want a dog park? Move to the country

So Tom Barton once again uses his column as a bully pulpit for the sake of his dog (“Let’s go to the dogs,” April 17). He once used his column to bring pressure to the city of Tybee Island to allow dogs to roam their beach.

Thank goodness Tybee hasn’t caved in to him and others who want their dogs ruining my day at the beach.

Now Tom wants the city of Savannah to turn a city park into a dog park. He apparently wants this city’s taxpayers to subsidize his dog.

Tom, you bought the dog, so why don’t you buy the land for your dog to romp on? That way if your dog or someone else’s dog bites or injures someone, you and your co-owners can pick up the lawsuit, not us taxpayers.

You also have another option: move to a rural location where Bowser can run, bark and do other annoying animal things without bothering neighbors who live much closer together in a city like Savannah.

My wife and I attended our first of their meetings last Saturday in Bluffton, S.C., to hear U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann.

The Golden Corral was filled to capacity with high-spirited stallions and mares, the great majority (including us) quite “long-in-the-tooth.”

It was a well-dressed, enthusiastic-but-polite audience of elderly Americans who remember what the USA was like in the 1930s-1950s and wish to recapture much of what America then had: Good public education, polite behavior, less promiscuity and love of country for what it stood for rather than for what it distributed in “federal freebies.”

I imagine that a poll of attendees would have registered 100 percent agreement that our nation is on a disastrous course which ought to be changed through the electoral process. This is what Tea Party people intend to help happen.

Michele Bachmann is a remarkable woman and speaker; her background indicates seemingly unlimited energy, which she obviously still possesses. Her orientation is proper. Nevertheless, she is not my choice for president, at least not in 2012.

How about Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who is the antithesis of President Obama? He has a record of high-level achievement in both private and public sectors, and his accomplishments exceed his promises; he is a “cheapskate” with public funds; and he tells the truth.

Thus far Daniels has not made a decision to run, and I fear that he may decide not to enter the already crowded field, were he to win nomination.

To him, the USA comes first; his own prominence isn’t part of the equation. Not a bad change, eh? Even one we could all believe in.

BRUCE TENNANT

Bluffton, S.C.

Actions speak loudest in politics

I am so “fed” up with Washington politics that I promised myself to disengage completely; however, Saturday’s opinion article “Immigration bill: It’s ‘no’ Deal” (April 16) requires a response.

The article noted Gov. Nathan Deal campaigned for office stating he would bring an Arizona-style immigration law to Georgia but encouraged the government to veto the current Georgia version of the law.

The article noted he would take a political hit for doing so, but being governor is different from running for governor.

That statement sums up the problem with too many politicians. Say anything to get elected and then do the opposite.

Does anyone remember our current president’s campaign? “No red states, no blue states, only the United States.” He ran as a centrist. What do we have? If he was any further left, the entire country would be in the Pacific Ocean.

Does anyone remember the expression “say what mean and mean what you say”? Hopefully the Tea Party candidates will adhere to that old expression and return intellectual and fiscal sanity to Washington.

BILL LAWLER

Savannah

Big thumbs up to newspaper carrier

This is an “atta-girl” letter for Ashley who delivers our Savannah Morning News.

Despite my ranting and raving to her April 2 upon not receiving our paper — and after she patiently explained policy to me — we were able to have our paper outside our door soon after talking to her.

Ashley — forgive me for being impatient. We’re older folks at Magnolia Manor. Quiet time with the morning paper is important to us. Thank you for your patience and doing a good job.